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Britain’s electricity transmission network owners have set out plans to invest up to £77.4bn between 2026 and 2031 in a boost to the UK government’s clean power targets.
National Grid, which owns the transmission network in England and Wales, has submitted plans to the regulator to invest up to £35bn over the period, it said on Wednesday.
ScottishPower Energy Networks, which covers transmission for central and southern Scotland, said it planned to invest £10.5bn, while SSEN Transmission, which covers northern Scotland, said earlier this month it planned to spend up to £31.7bn.
It marks a big step up in investment, which will help the UK meet its target of decarbonising the electricity system by 2030.
Electricity networks need reinforcing, expanding and upgrading in order to be able to move power from growing numbers of wind and solar farms to consumers.
A huge backlog in connection requests has built up over the past few years, raising concerns that limited network capacity is holding back renewable energy development and wider economic growth.
In a report last month, the government’s state-owned National Energy System Operator said that, in order to reach the 2030 target, twice as much transmission network would need to be built over the next five years as had been developed over the past decade.
John Pettigrew, chief executive of National Grid, said the plans were “unprecedented” and represented the “most significant step forward in the electricity network that we’ve seen in a generation”.
However, the plans risk raising questions over the effect on Britain’s consumer energy bills, which include a charge to fund the networks.
National Grid said its planned transmission investment would account for about £40 per year of annual household bills, up from about £20 per year at present.
Scottish Power said its plans would account for about £12.07 a year of energy bills, up from £5.60 at present. Higher network costs should be offset by a decrease in payments to compensate generators asked to switch off at certain times due to limited network capacity.
Meanwhile, residents in several areas are protesting against new pylons and electricity cables in their neighbourhoods, raising questions over whether some plans will be blocked.
Nicola Connelly, chief executive of ScottishPower Energy Networks, said the investment would “help to stabilise and lower consumer energy bills in the longer term”.
It comes as the government is poised to launch a review of Ofgem, the energy regulator, later this week.
Government figures said the energy department wants to overhaul the regulator to make sure it can better hold companies to account for wrongdoing and force them to raise their standards.
The review is also expected to propose automatic customer compensation for corporate failures in the energy market.
On Tuesday, the government brought forward to next year a planned decision on whether it should support the use of hydrogen in home heating.
The fuel has been considered as a lower carbon alternative to the gas-fired boilers that at present heat the vast majority of homes, alongside electric heat pumps.
The former Conservative government said it would make the call in 2026 after trials had taken place.
But the Labour government said it wanted to “provide strategic clarity on decarbonising home heating as soon as possible” and would consult on the matter next year.
“The government already supports existing low carbon heat options like heat pumps and heat networks, which will be the primary means of decarbonisation for the foreseeable future,” it added.
